Knit article and method of knitting the same



Jan. 20, 1,931. A. E. PAGE 1,789,494 KNIT ARTICLE AND METHOD OF KNITTING THE SAME I Filed May 4. 1927 2 sheets-sheet 2 uuunuuuuuuu QBHUDDUUUDUDUUDUUUllllqllll Jan. 20, 1931. A A. EQPAGE KNIT ARTICLE AND METHOD OF KNITTING THE SAME Filed May 4, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Jan. 20, 193i .UNiTEDqsTATEs PATENT oFFicE.-

ALBERT E. PAGE, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AS'SIGNOR TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS, IN-l CORPORATED, .OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A vCORPORATION OF IVIASSACIUSETTSv KNIT ARTICLE AND METHOD OF KNITTING THE SAME Appuation nica may 4,

` This invention relates to a knit article fashioned by narrowedand widened parts, for example a stocking having narrowed and wid ened heel or toe pockets. One object of the 'invention is toprovide an vvarticle of this nature without excess of fabric or slack corners in its fashioned ockets and to provide -steps economizing -in-t le extent of successive narrowingand widening' operations, and hence in the time required to knit reciprocally narrowed and widened conjoined areas such as a heel pocket or a toe pocket (especially when, as usual, the article is produced by machine operations) in this aspect the invention com'- prises an art or method of knitting narrowed and widened structures on a series ofneedles,

for example, on a circular-segment or a straight segment of a series of needles, upon -which segmentwales corresponding to the narrowed and widened portions may continue longitudinallyto form a portion of the' article, such as the back of the leg or the sole of a. stocking containing wales from other needles not used in making the fashioned parts.

Another object of the invention is to pro` vide a knit pocket fashioned by narrowing and widening for articles of hosiery, in which narrowed and widened parts are conjoined by a new kind ,of suture havingiimproved characteristics.

The invention will be explained in connectionwi'th a circular knit or seamless stocking in part made by well-known operations carried out on series of needles of a circular knitting machine, but the method of the invention may be practiced and the produced on machines having nee les arranged in other ways, for example in straight Les o series on a straight needle bed or beds.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, as. customarily folded for sale, of the foot portion of a stock.- ing corresponding to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating. nar-rowing operations; y

Fig. 3 is a diagram explanatory ot motions of needles participating in a widening operation; i

53 Fig. lisl a similar diagram showing the 1927. Serial N0. 188,700.

Fig. 5 is a similardiagram ,illu strating still `another subsequent course;

Fig. 6 is' an enlarged diagram elevation of4 a detail oithe narrowed and widened fabric,

for example of the inner face of oneside of the heel ofthe stocking shown in Fig. '1, show-- ing the kind of suture formed between the narrowed "and'widened areas or courses; and Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of Fig. Gbetter to show the formation of a structure repeated throughoutfthe suture. f

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 6, in prior modes of making stockings of the type chosen for illustration, the leg L, ankle A and foot F were knit successivelyon a circular of needles, or two straight series, in a manner familiar tothe artisan when the knitting hadv proceeded as far as the line (1f-@circular knitting `was suspended on the needles'corresponding to thefront-ofthe leg and instep at vai--b',and knitting then proceeded. recipro-` cally on diminishing series of the'remaining l needles for a narrowed 'heel gore; a widene heel gore wasthen knit on a progressively'increasing vseries of the needles, and tubular knitting was resumed for the foot F.

These usual heel or toe fashioning opera` tions' takel an undue proportion of time of the production ofthe stocking as a Whole, and Vresult in a heel or toe unnecessarily lon in the direction of the wales. Circular portions of the article such as the legL, ankle A and-v foot F can be and are knit by round-andround knitting on circular knitting machines at relatively high speeds, but reciprocal knitting for the narrowed gore and the widened gore of the heel pocket or of the toe pocket,

for reasons related to the co struction of the machines, 1s necessarily Re ormed at a lower speed than the circularb tubular round-andround knitting. In the instance of a stocking having 220 needles common practice is to narrow or widen on slightly less than one-sixth of the total number of needles; for example by knitting reciprocal courses each diminished by one needle; and to widen by one needle at a stroke on a similarnumberof courses for heel and toe, This required 110 courses of relatively slow knitting; for a stocking of 300 needle wales. similarly proportioned, the relatively slow reciprocal knitting is required during 180 courses. Nearly or more than half of the time required to knit the whole stocking is thus spent in making the narrowed and widened areas.

I have devised the present article and method of making it in part in order to reduce this undue proportion of relatively slow manufacture, whether or not the stockin-g is knit by circulatory motion on a flat series of needles or whether itis knit by circular machines, and in part to provide an improved heel or toe structure having lateral elasticity at the suture and less length along the wales than stockings as now made; and so constructed as to permit wide variation of stitch-length and gauge of yarn. According to the usual old mode of knitting a stocking above mentioned the suture between the narrowed `and widened gores of heel or toe eX- tends at a slope of about 45 to the direction ofthe wales, due to the symmetrical diminishment of the number of needles in action by one needle at the beginning of each reciprocal narrowing course and the symmetrically corresponding increase by one needle at the end of each reciprocal widening course. But enough fabric for a suitable heel is provided by'lkni'tting a'narrowed gore N, Fig. 1, containing only la fraction of the number of courses (which will result from narrowing one` needle at a time) by narrowing at a y higher rate than one needle at a. time; and

by knitting a corresponding widened gore containing only the same fraction of the number of courses which would result from widening by one needle at a time, by widening at a higher rate than, for example, as usual,

widening by picking up one needle and picking down two needles durin each course knit. By knitting a heel whic is shorter in the sense of the number of courses required to produce it as measured along the center line of the wales e, Fig. 6, at the back of the ,stocking from a to d of Fig. 1, the time re uired to knit the heel may be greatly reduce and a satisfactory product of conjoined narrowed and widened fabric can be made to result from diminishing this dimension of the nar- -rowed and widened gores.

This specification now describes a new mode of knitting such a fashioned pocket with only about one-half the number of,

courses required in the usual procedure, in such a way as to provide a superior joint or suture elastic in the direction of its length and vof strong and well-interlocked narrowed and widened selvages. By adopting these operations and the 'structures made by them in the manufacture of a stocking, the time required for reciprocal -knitting of the heel and toe is reduced to one-half, more or less, of.

ting of a stocking as usual to the line a, a,-

F ig. 1, and then as usual to suspend knitting at the instep, by putting out of action the 1nstep segment of needles nl, Fig. 2. Reciprocatory knitting is now resorted to to form the narrowed gore N between the lines a, b, 0, preferably by narrowing on the segment 'n.2 of needles remaining in operation by putting out of action two at a time needles at each end of the segment, these needles preferably being idled before reaching the yarn guide from which the active needles receive yarn for the stitches of the next course subsequent to the last course knit when the series contained them as active needles. Referring to Fig. 2, these pairs of needles may go out of action in the order shown at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. first on one side and then on the other side of the series of needles in action. Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, this operation may be performed by the usual type of narrowing or lifting pickers p'or p1, although any mode of picking the needles will serve. This narrowing two at a time may proceed for` the desired number of courses, for'example for from 17 to 21 courses.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7 one result of this procedure is to detain, for'example on the needles of the leading pair in action at 1, Fig. 2, the next to the last loops w1 and terminal loop w2 of the first reverse course at ra, Figs. 1 and 6, following the course ab in which the instep needles nl ending at loop ting by relative travel of needles in the direction of the arrow k, Fig. 6;; and to cause the needles 1 (retired by picker p1, Fig. 4, upwardly before approaching the yarn feed in the next or back stroke of reciprocation in the direction r, Fig. 6) to take a bight of yarn y1 around both the needles 1; the bight y1 is not cast on", the needles 1 are out of action, and these needles and bight 'y1 stand ahead of the pair of needles 3 first to knit in the first reverse and diminished course 111 knit in the direction r, of which the first loop fw* is at least one Wale and one course removed from any loop suspended on a needle picked out of the active series. The terminal loop of a reversed course on the other side of the narrowed area corresponds to the loop wz. The bights y1 having been received on the shanks of needles put up out of action' in pairs, one leg of the bight y1 crosses and covers any` eyelet hole which would otherwise be formed in the fabric between the ,pairs of needles 1, 3, 5 etc. or 2, 4, 6 etc. atl

eachl pair of needles retired at the initial endof each course knit in the same direction, widening for the` conjoined widened gore W is performed` by knitting on a series of v needles exceeding by two needles in each course the last preceding course. One way of doing this is to continue to pick up out of action the leading pair of needles of the active segment including the needles n", and to restore to action four needles at the following end of theactive segment. A widening picker g, for example, wide enough to vact on four needles leading the column of needles up out of action on each reciprocal stroke in either direction may be made active, as shownin Figs. 3, 4.- and 5.

Referring to Fig. 6, the result of this, Wheneverknitting is in the direction le, is to restore four needles to action and knit off the narrowing selvage structure w1, 102, y1 on each of two adjacent pairs of needlesat the terminal end of one course, of which the last loop is shown at g5, but when the next reverse course (1'2", for example) is knit, the

leading pair (17, for example) of these four needles is picked' up by picker p1, loops y and g/5 are not cast olf, and one of the floats y2 leading from these tucked 1 loops to the initial reversed-course loop y of the widening course, such as 7021,: results. The terminal loop w1, w2- and the float y1 have been ca'st oli' on loops y* and g5, and any eyelet hole which yotherwise would be formed between the pairs of needles at the initial reversed-course loop 1/6 is closed by the effect of float y2. The gore W may be rknit until the widened selvages are as long as the narrowed selvages,

and all of the needles in segment n2 have beenl restored to action; and knitting on all the needles for the foot is then resumed.v It will be observed that the selvage of the widened gore is characterized by groups of four-walecourses connec' ed at one end by a float to a subsequent course initiated in one of the central wales of the four-Wale selvage course;

The toe ma be knit in similar gores N and W conjoined y the same kind of suture s.

The described structures are such as to permit the narrowed and widened gores to be knit of doubled yarn or yarns of increased size, if desired in loops of increased length, no accumulation of loops in needle hooks along the sutures s being `required on any needle; lthe bights y1 and floats y2 are not re 'n quired to enter the hooks ofthe needles. In turn, this vfacilitates picking motions as. a machine function, enables maximum speed ofI reciprocatory motion, and permits the width and lengh of the fabric in the reduced number of courses in heel and toe pockets to be stitchcontrolled to a ,nicety by adjustin during length and the weight of yarn. fe

reciprocal knitting, aswell as securing the wholeincreasein speed of manufacture resulting from reduction by substantially half of the period of slowest knitting in making each stocking. j

I claim:

1. Stocking having a knit lstructure for use as heel or toe comprising reciprocally knit narrowed and widened gores conjoined 'in knit sutures, each of said gores having the same or a less number of courses than there are selvagev needle loops of its structure in one of the sutures.

2. Fashionedl knit article having a pocket comprising a narrowedgore containing reciprocally knit courses each diminished by` a plurality of needle wales in respect to the number of wales of the next preceding course, conjoined at its selvages to selvages of a widened gore said widened gore containing reciprocal courses each diminished at one end by asimilar plurality of needle loops, and increased at the other end by a greater plurality of needle loops.

3. Fashioned knit article having a pocket i comprising a narrowed gore composedof re ciprocally knit courses each diminished at alternate 'sides of thegore in turn by a. plurality of needle wales 1n respect to the number of wales of the last preceding course, and conjoined at its selvages to selvages of a widened gore containing reciprocal courses each diminished at one end by a similar plurality kof needle loops and increased at the other end by a greater plurality of needle loops.`

4; Fashioned knit article having a pocket made up of narrowed and widened gores respectively of coursesof decreasing and increasing numbers of needle loops, the selvages at reversal of direction of knitting of the respective courses com rising unknit bights of yarn extending rom course to course of one of said gores, and a plurality of knit loops of the same course of the sel vage of a conjoined gore penetrating said bights and terminal loops and holding said bights and terminal loops of the narrowedk .interknit at a suture, said suture comprising,

a series of four Wale-initiating loops of the same course of the widened gore andfsuccessive series of VWale-initiating loops of said widened gore.

7. Knit web having therein a narrowed gore of successively diminished courses and a widened gore of successively increased courses, selvage edges of the said gores being interknit at a suture, said suture comprising a series of four Wale-initiating loops of the same course of the widened gore, and successive series of Wale-initiating loops of said widened gore, said widened gore having a course whose initial loop is in one of the central wales of the needle wales initiated by said four loops.

8. Method of knitting a stocking by circular and reciprocatory knitting on a series of instruments comprising as steps knitting a circular portion of the stocking, narrowing to form a narrowed gore by retaining unknit the loops on at leasttwo instruments at the end of a course of reciprocal knitting on a segment of said instrunients,fand subsequently widening by reciprocal knitting on segments of increased numbers of the instruments, knit loops of a course at the selvages of the widening area penetrating the retained loops of a plurality of courses of the narrowed gore.

9, Method of knitting a stocking by circular and reciprocatory knitting on a series of instruments comprising as steps knitting a circular portion of .the stocking, narrowing to form a narrowed gore by retaining unknit the loops on at least two instruments at the end of a course of reciprocal knitting on a segment of ,said instruments, holding the yarn of a course containing' such retained loo s around the instruments retaining them to orm and detain a bight, and subsequently widening by reciprocal knitting on segments of increased numbers of the instruments, knit loops at the selvages of the widening area penetrating the retained loops, and engaging the retained bights with said knit loopsl of a plurality of courses of the narrowed gore.

10. Method of knitting a fashioned web on a segment of instruments comprising y struments, retaining a knitting in opposite directions alternate courses of loops, each coursecomprising a number of loops less than its predecessor by a plurality of loops corresponding to loopsy of the previous course retained on the inbight oi?v the yarn of the previous course on saidv instruments along with the retained loops, and subsequently casting off the-retained loops and bights onto knit loops by ormingsuccessively courses of increased numbers of loops, each of said courses having a series of loops penetrating two or more of the said detained bights to comprise a widened gore.

11. Method of knitting a fashioned web on a segment of instruments comprising knitting in opposite directions alternate courses of loops, each course comprising a number of loops less than its predecessor by a plurality of loops corresponding to loops of the previous course retained on the inp struments, retaining a bightof the yarn of the previous course on said instruments 'nate courses at each along with the retained loops, and subsequently casting olf the retained loops and bights onto knit loops by forming successively courses of increased numbers of loops to comprise a widened gore and inter-knitting a plurality of terminal loops of a course of the said increased numbers with detained loops of a plurality ot courses of the narrowed gore at sutures successively in alterside of the narrowed and widened gores. y A

12. Method ot' ashioning heel or toe pockets on a circle of needles comprising suspending knitting on an instep segment of needles, knitting reciprocally on the remainder and suspending knitting at end needles of the remainder at each course to form a narrowed gore; and thereafter resuming knitting on four needles at one end and suspending knitting on at least two needles at the other end of each course.

13. Method of fashioning heel or toe pockets on a circle of needles comprising suspending knitting on an instep segment ofy needles, knitting reciprocally on the remainder and suspending knitting at a plurality of end needles of the remainder at each course to form a narrowed gore; and thereafter resuming knitting on at leastfour needles atv lone end and suspending knitting on at least two needles'at the other end of each course.

14. Method of knitting a stocking by circular and reciprocatory knitting lon a series of instruments comprising as steps knitting a circular portion of the stocking, narrowing to form a narrowed gore by retaining unknit the loops on at least two instruments at one end of a course of reciprocal knitting on av segment of said instruments, and subsequently widening by reciprocal knitting on segments of numbers of the instruments in creased by at least two in each course.

15. Knit web having therein a narrowed gore of successively diminished courses of loops, each course having two less loops than the next previous course, and successive courses having a terminal pair of and an 'initial pair of loops respectively in the same L New York city, New York, this 30th day of April, 1927. ALBERT E. PAGE. 

